diff --git a/qaboard/config.py b/qaboard/config.py
index 206d479f..67c0cc9c 100755
--- a/qaboard/config.py
+++ b/qaboard/config.py
@@ -246,9 +246,9 @@ def merge(src: Dict, dest: Dict) -> Dict:
 except:
     branch_ci_dir = Path()
 
-commit_committer_name: str = user
+commit_committer_name: Optional[str] = user
 commit_committer_email: Optional[str] = None
-commit_authored_datetime: Optional[str] = datetime.datetime.now(datetime.timezone.utc).isoformat()
+commit_authored_datetime = datetime.datetime.now(datetime.timezone.utc).isoformat()
 commit_message: Optional[str] = None
 commit_parents: List[str] = []
 if commit_id and is_in_git_repo: